


Cooling Off

by Akaroku



Category: Radiata Stories
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:55:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23777962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akaroku/pseuds/Akaroku
Summary: A less than smooth execution of a mission once again leaves Jarvis and Jack at each others throats.





	Cooling Off

Their mission for the day hadn’t gone over particularly well. Not that they ever really did to begin with. Though this one was really one for the record books.

“How could you mess this up?!” Jarvis shouted as he pushed his way through the dense undergrowth that blanketed the ground of the Nowem forest. Congealing greenish fluid and chunks of spongy organic matter covered him from head to toe. “Only you could make getting some stupid fruit so complicated.”

“How was I supposed to know that that thing was alive?” Jack argued, drenched in the same sticky, putrid smelling gunk as Jarvis. Only Daniel was the clean one out of the group, choosing to stay as far away as he could without being left behind and keeping quiet as the other two argued.

“You practically climbed right into its mouth! Is that what they teach you in the knights? How to run right into things and die without thinking?”

“If you knew that was it’s mouth then why didn’t you say anything? Isn’t it your job to, you know, be a leader or something?”

Jarvis spun around, pointing a finger at Jack and opening his mouth to make a retort. He quickly clamped it shut when he realized he had no argument to make that didn’t reveal he had known just as little about the weird plant creature as Jack had.

“I should have just left you in there to get digested.” Jarvis huffed, waving a hand with finality as he returned to pressing his way through the foliage.

“Yeah about that, you got swallowed up to. Talk about running into things without thinking.”

“REALLY wish I had left you in there!”

“Hey, at least you’re both okay. And we also got the fruit that...we came...here…” Daniel attempted to lighten up the situation but was cut short by two sets of glares. Accusatory glares that; without words, berated him for standing by and doing nothing while the owners struggled to hack their way out of a creature's stomach. Daniel fell back into silence as the two carried on with their bickering.

The row didn’t last for much longer though, as the party came across a section of river.

“Finally! Now we can clean up a bit and follow this back to that dark elf village.” Jarvis said, sounding over all pleased with the situation despite Jack’s incredulous look.

“Have we been lost this whole time?”

Jarvis paid minimal attention to the accusation. Instead kneeling by the water's edge and removing his helmet so he could clean the mess from his face and hair.

“We just need to follow this upstream, use the pig statue there to get back to Radiata, and then we can be done with this day.” Jarvis explained as he finished with his face and dunked his head gear into the rushing water to try and clean the grime caked to the inside and outside.

“I think the Forest Metropolis is the other direction.” Jack disagreed, frustrated and feeling defiant against the idea of cleaning up, purely out of spite. Though that feeling was waning quickly as his skin began to itch from the mucusy feeling substance on his skin.

Jack heard the long sigh and could picture the eye roll his comment earned.

“Well it doesn’t matter what you think because I’m the one who’s in charge.” Jarvis shot a patronizing look over his shoulder at Jack, reigniting his frustration back into anger.

“I dunno, your leadership hasn’t really been very useful to us so far.” Jack didn’t have the chance to see the expression on Jarvis’ face. Before he knew it a helmet full of water was being thrown at him, forcing him back a few steps as he sputtered in shock. 

When Jack cleared the water from his eyes, he found Jarvis snickering up at him with the most punch-able smirk plastered across his face. Without missing a beat, Jack planted his boot on the older man's shoulder and shoved him with enough force to send him sprawling into the rushing water.

The self righteous smirk on Jarvis’ face was quickly replaced with rage as he scrambled back to his feet. He glared Jack down for a long moment, growling when the boy refused to back down or show any hint of subordination.

Jack didn’t move a muscle until Jarvis lunged for him. He tried to jump out of range but failed when Jarvis managed to catch him by the wrist and pull him into the water. The two grappled for a brief moment, paying no mind to Daniel as he yelled for them to stop. Though the river bed was rather muddy, Jack’s foot managed to find a slick rock which caused him to slip and lose balance. The slip caused enough of an opening for Jarvis to successfully throw the boy over his hip and into a deeper part of the river.

“There! How do you like being thrown onto YOUR ass for a change?” Jarvis waited for Jack to resurface, expecting him to have finally learned his place. As the seconds went by, Jarvis’ expression shifted to concern. He scanned the area for any hints of Jack’s body, but the shade from the trees and the sediment constantly being churned up by the current made it impossible to see anything under the surface.

“Hey, this isn’t funny kid! Knock it off.” Jarvis tried to maintain the irritated edge to his voice as he waded out into the knee deep waters, but he failed to hide his growing concern. Had Jack hit his head and was now lying unconscious at the bottom of the murky river? Was the currant stronger than it looked and had he been swept away by some river undertow? Was that even how rivers worked?

Jarvis didn’t notice the grip on his ankle until it was too late and he was being dragged down into the water as well. He thrashed around for a few moments before eventually righting himself to sit on his knees, coughing and gasping for air. He glanced over his shoulder, finding Jack sitting in the water, pouting at him a couple feet away.

“Why you manipulative little piece of…”

“Serves you right!”

“I should have just assumed you’d drowned and left you here!”

“Are you trying to say I should be grateful you bothered to come check on me after you smashed me into the water like that?!” Jack turned his head away and downward as Jarvis slapped a wave of water in his direction.

“Insolent, half-witted runt!” Jarvis raised his arms in a futile attempt to block the sheet of water Jack splashed back at him.

“Washed up, old wino!”

They continued on, hurling water and insults back and forth with no signs of stopping. They’d long forgotten their third squad member as he watched on with fading patience.

“STOOOOP!” Daniel screeched, catching both their attention. Jarvis and Jack stared in shock at him from where they still sat, chest deep in water and huffing from their shouting match.

“Sarge, you’re always scolding me and Jack whenever we start arguing with each other. You should be setting an example by not doing that ether!”

Jarvis practically bristled indignantly at being scolded by yet another subordinate.

“You don’t get to…”

“No!” Daniel cut him off with a petulant stomp of his foot. “You don’t get to have a double standard like that! And Jack, you need to stop egging him on when he gets like this!”

The smug grin Jack previously had in response to Jarvis being scolded quickly melted away, being replaced by a look akin to a scolded puppy.

“I’m so sick and tired of listening to you guys fight over the messes you both make.”

The duo remained silent for a long moment, the only sounds being the trickle of the water as it sloshed past them and the rustle of the leaves in the trees. It was this time that they realized just how late it was starting to get, with the sun no longer visible through the canopy and the light pink and orange hues in the sky alerting them to the oncoming twilight. Had they really spent that long aimlessly trudging their way through the forest, arguing the entire way?

“Hey, Sarge.” Jarvis snapped his gaze back to Jack, finding him starting sheepishly at the water. “Do you think if we met differently, we’d be friends?”

The question had caught him off guard, and he found he didn’t readily have an answer. If Jack hadn’t absolutely floored him on their first meeting, would they have gotten along better? Even then, would their personalities end up eventually clashing anyway? Jarvis huffed and shook his head.

“Honestly, I really don’t think it matters how we first met. We’re stuck together now and I guess we really need to make the best of it.” Jarvis pushed himself to his feet, and extended a hand towards Jack to help him up.

“So are you going to get over the fact that I kicked your butt that one time?” Jack willingly took the offered hand, now smiling his usual dopey puppy smile as Jarvis hauled him to his feet.

“Tell you what, I’ll admit that I wasn’t at my 100% and accept that you were lucky. So long as you cut the attitude and at least try to follow orders.”

“Only if you don’t send me to climb up man eating plants again.”

“Fair enough.” Both men shook on their deal and started making their way back to dry land, with Jarvis pausing to collect his helmet which had luckily snagged on an exposed root.

“Soooo, is that it? Are you guys going to get along now.” Daniel asked, surprised his outburst had given positive results.

“I dunno. I guess so. At least I don’t think Sarge is going to throw me into a river again.” Jack shrugged as he busied himself with wringing out his clothes..

“Hey, at least we’re clean now. And as for you.” Daniel gulped nervously as Jarvis approached him, suspiciously holding his upturned helmet. Before he could think to run, Jarvis had already swatted off his own hat and replaced it with the piece of armor, making him shriek as cold water and mud splashed down his face and the back of his neck.

“And that’s your punishment for yelling at me.” Jarvis hummed as he patronizingly patted the boy's helmeted head. “Now come on, let’s find this stupid tree village so we can go home. I need a hot shower, dinner, and drinks.”

“Sounds really good right about now. Minus the drinks part.” Jack agreed.

“Great! Should be this way.” Jarvis pointed off in his initial direction of upstream and both he and Jack hurried off, leaving Daniel behind once again.

Daniel grumbled to himself as he wiped the mud from his face. In the process he noticed lights not far downstream from them, in the opposite direction that his two squad-mates stalked off in. Deducing it must be the Forest Metropolis, Daniel turned to call out to Jack and Jarvis, only to find them quite a distance away already. He watched after them for a moment with an unimpressed look before turning and making his way back to civilization alone.


End file.
